How Empty Legs Work, And How To Catch One
23 Oct 2026 · 2 min read
A private jet often has to fly empty to collect its next passengers. Booking that leg can cost far less than a standard charter. Here is how it works, and the catch.
Every charter flight has a beginning and an end, and the aircraft is rarely based at either. A jet that takes a family from Nairobi to Zanzibar on Friday may have to fly back to Nairobi empty, or fly on to Dar es Salaam empty to collect its next passengers. Those positioning flights are called empty legs.
The operator pays for the empty leg whether anyone is on board or not. Selling it, even at a reduced price, is better than flying seats and a crew across the region for nothing. That is where the saving comes from.
What you get
- The whole aircraft, crew and service, exactly as on a full charter.
- A one-way flight between two set airports.
- A price well below a standard one-way charter on the same route, because the flight was happening anyway.
The catch
An empty leg exists because of someone else's trip, so it follows their schedule, not yours. The departure window can move if the original client changes plans, and in rare cases the leg can be cancelled. The route is fixed: you can't add a stop or change the destination without it becoming a normal charter.
That makes empty legs best for travellers with some flexibility: a weekend on the coast, a trip home that can move by a day, or a group that wants to try flying privately for less.
How to catch one
Empty legs come up at short notice and go quickly. The best ways to hear about them:
- Check the empty legs page, which lists every leg we currently have.
- Sign up for empty-leg alerts by email or WhatsApp, optionally for just the airports you use.
- Tell the charter desk where and roughly when you'd like to fly. If a matching leg appears, we'll get in touch.
When you see one that suits you, request it straight from the listing. We confirm the timing with the operator and send you a firm price before anything is booked.
